


you say that i hurt you, your voice like a prayer

by renardroi



Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: (no one we care abt dont worry), Canon-Typical Violence, Definitely Not A Healthy Relationship, Gun Violence, Gunplay, I dont know how to explain it better than that like they're mean to each other, Implied/Referenced Minor Character Death, M/M, also when i say 'Gunplay' i don't mean shooting guns thats what the gun violence tag is for
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-24
Updated: 2017-10-24
Packaged: 2019-01-22 13:44:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12482976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/renardroi/pseuds/renardroi
Summary: jacobi surprised him. the man tested well, with accuracy and speed in most things, and sure like most creatures that came through here there was a disparity between carefully planned tests of skill and his performance in the field, but unlike most of the skittering inconveniences that crawled across kepler's path, the threat of violence only seemed to drive him closer to perfection. especially when the threats were coming from kepler or his gun.





	you say that i hurt you, your voice like a prayer

**Author's Note:**

  * For [intearsaboutrobots](https://archiveofourown.org/users/intearsaboutrobots/gifts).



he's made a mistake. 

within the first twenty minutes of meeting jacobi he had already roughed out the details of the man's would-be death in his head, in case of the likely event that cutter tried to assign him to kepler. a tragic error, killed by his own weapons. it wasn't too hard to believe, considering his previous employment, that jacobi could make a slight miscalculation in the heat of the moment - sure he's an expert and a professional but blowing things up with time and relative peace is very different from blowing things up with armed guards nipping at his heels (or kepler's pistol pointed at the back of his head). 

kepler didn't need a partner. didn't. hadn't. hadn't needed. people slowed him down and he didn't have time to pick them up when they fell. didn't. hadn't. hadn't had the time. 

jacobi surprised him. the man tested well, with accuracy and speed in most things, and sure like most creatures that came through here there was a disparity between carefully planned tests of skill and his performance in the field, but unlike most of the skittering inconveniences that crawled across kepler's path, the threat of violence only seemed to drive him closer to perfection. especially when the threats were coming from kepler or his gun. 

the first time he points his gun at jacobi's chest, he knows what he's doing. it's only their second mission together, time is of the essence and jacobi is hesitating, carding through specs on a tablet and pushing everything that looks important to the thumbdrive thats plugged into it. an alarm is shrieking at the both of them as kepler abandons his post at the door, where he's supposed to be watching for anyone coming. jacobi is hesitating - reading too deeply - dispersal device - gas or liquid - kilos of this and grams of that and the dispersal radius of both - and kepler knows that he's trying to look for the cause and effect, trying to figure out goddard's play in this strange corporate game, and he has no patience for it. 

jacobi sees out of the corner of his eye the silencer pointed at his neck, takes a deep steadying breath, and then wordlessly ejects the thumbdrive. the tablet is burned along with everything else in the office and it's not until they have a mile of forest between them and the building that jacobi rounds on him in anger. the punch isn't a surprise per se but he catches kepler off guard and manages to give him a split lip. and then jacobi dusts himself off, hands over the drive, and curtly _thanks_ him - and christ kepler thinks its like hes been punched him a second time. there's a light and painful feeling in his chest that he doesn't know. hasn't seen before. 

the second time he points his gun at jacobi, a year later, both of them know what they're doing. there's a kid in the encampment that they're supposed to be leaving behind and jacobi's got a chink in his armor the size of the sahara and his heart is bleeding something terrible through it. by now kepler's plans for jacobi's death have been punched right out of him, but that doesn't mean he won't do what he has to. he levels his gun at his subordinate with a shake of his head, and there's nothing to miss about his intention. 

jacobi stares hard back at him, angry but his face full of pinched regret. there's a brief second where kepler thinks he might have lost him, but after a moment of hesitation jacobi turns away, trudging back towards the encampment. kepler shoots him in the thigh, clean through, and then gives jacobi five minutes to gather himself up and stand while the encampment crumbles in the grasp of several fiery explosions. once he manages it, cursing colorfully all the while, kepler takes his arm and patiently walks him back to the extraction point. he apologizes while they wait, not in so many words but on his knees and with jacobi's now-injured leg bleeding on his shoulder. 

the fifth time it happens, jacobi knows what he's doing and kepler most certainly does not. his gun is a rare spur in jacobi's side, to be waved around as a vague threat but almost never pointed directly. but kepler has finally coaxed jacobi into his bed - or rather his couch, straddling kepler's lap in the cramped space - and he's too caught up in riding the high of months of waiting finally paying off to keep his confidence from slipping when jacobi presses cold metal into his hand. kepler's own pistol, and jacobi's posing the both of them so that the barrel of the gun is tucked under his chin. 

kepler stares in wordless fascination hardly daring to breathe save to double check the safety with a glance. he can feel how nervous jacobi is, his free hand trailing down his subordinate's stomach (his skin is so soft and its a cruel reminder for kepler, how mortal this man is), can feel his body tense and relax, can feel his lungs shake. but jacobi tilts his head and in a lewd act of trust he takes the muzzle of the gun into his mouth. even as he digs his nails into kepler's chest, anxiously keeping himself as still as he can, he has this tilted lazy smile on his face and it's only right now that kepler realizes his mistake. 

kepler is the one with the gun in his hand, the power behind a threat, but he doesn't have an ounce of control over jacobi. none of this has ever been anything other than exactly what jacobi wanted him to do. and the revelation remains incomplete there in that moment, distracted by unmet needs and an unmarked neck sitting on top of him, at least until it's someone else pointing a gun a jacobi. 

it's not an unusual occurrence but this time its different. both of them are unarmed, hands tied behind their backs. some easily-goaded freshblood has been given a pistol and cant take jacobi's ribbing, and kepler doesn't think much of it until he's watching the kid's finger shift to curl around the trigger. his blood boils and it's all he can do to get his body in front of jacobi's just before some punk teen takes the shot 'cause he thinks he'll get off scot-free. 

the pain in his chest makes it feel like he's collapsing inwards, and he passes out but only for a few minutes, because he wakes up to jacobi kneeling next to him, giving him an earful. kepler can see out of the corner of his eye, the idiot kid who shot him lying in a matching pool of blood. he's not sure if thats reassuring or not, but it doesn't matter because even though jacobi is calling him a bastard and an idiot while he urgently calls for an emergency extraction, kepler can still see the hint of a smile lingering on jacobi's mouth. only then in that moment, with the taste of his own blood in his mouth, does he finish the thought that he'd started on the couch. 

kepler didn't take bullets for people. didn't. hadn't. but somehow that'd changed - with jacobi as an insidious catalytic force in his life, twisting his priorities around into something like sentimental and he's not sure that the man hasn't done it on purpose. he's not sure if he cares. the blood in his mouth doesn't taste too bad if it's for jacobi. 

**Author's Note:**

> as always, bright eyes makes me gay


End file.
